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Friday, August 12, 2011

Independence and Inner Freedom

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Happy Independence Day!

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We had an inauguration ceremony of school constructed under CSR initiative by our company near Pune. After the function, students and teachers sung the national song, “Vande Mataram. I was thrilled while singing the same. (I fear some people even don’t remember the full version. They may also mistake between national anthem and national song.) What is the message? And only free person can enjoy the innerness of the words in national song and national anthem.

Freedom is the great word. Freedom gives the respect to the person.But words alone are powerless. Only actions can make a difference. The function of these words is to inspire us to think, and then to act and make a difference.

Mahatma Gandhi had a dream of freeing the nation from British and he did that. Freedom fighters struggled a lot to get the status which we are enjoying today. We got the independence. But do we value this independence? As a species we have evolved to a level of consciousness, whereby we are no longer able to avoid our responsibility. Reclaiming our power is essential to both our individual survival and the healing of our nation. Let’s not discuss what’s happening in India and how the freedom and democracy is abused by everybody including us. We should not blame only politicians; we are responsible for the fate. But where is the end?

Think for a moment, how the world would be if all people had chosen not to strive for their dreams and make a difference. People like Mahatma Gandhi, Vir Sawarkar, Pandit Nehru, Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa...

You may look at these names and feel somewhat intimidated and be tempted to ask, “Can I really make a difference? Is it worth the price I would have to pay?” It is easier to live a compromised, mediocre life, hoping that someone else makes a difference, while you read about it. However, if that was your choice, you wouldn’t be reading this article now. Now is a time for action.

It is time to confront our upbringing, conditioning and circumstances. We all had and have people in our life, telling us that dreams are for children, encouraging us to be matured. Making a difference is like throwing a pebble in a pool. The ripples spread from the center to larger and larger circles of influence. It begins within you. Time has come to respect the freedom and take some responsibilities. It is the time of referring back to civil science which we learned during our high school. Not so much difficult. You have to come out from the capsule and take small steps like taking a freedom from preoccupied conditioning.

What we need more today is running the second freedom movement, personally, professionally and off course, as a responsible citizen of nation. Freedom from indiscipline, freedom for unresponsiveness, freedom from dishonesty, freedom from negative thinking, freedom from jealousy, freedom from inhumanity and freedom from every evil which we have within us and within society.